Love: It's A Terrible Thing
by klabdreams
Summary: Deep down Marth knew that they wouldn't end up being together. But it wouldn't stop him from trying. Wrestling back feelings of love for Zelda so he can keep Link as a friend, Marth couldn't help but wonder if this was the right thing to do.
1. Our story begins

**This was originally going to be a one - shot. But i'll think i'll make it into a multi chapter. Iv'e been working on my writing skills and I hope you enjoy. :)**

Marth Lowell is a very powerful, strong and courageous fighter. He was best known for being a skilled swordsman, everyone knew of his politeness. He was often taken advantage of for his kindness and found himselfs doing tasks for smashers. Many knew that Marth Lowell was true to his words, he was a kind and honest person. Many people thought they knew exactly who Marth was, but how wrong they were. Few knew that he too, had feelings. And, few knew that he was in love with a certain girl smasher.

Marth was carefully inspecting his crown, which had been smashed after Wario sat on it. He claimed it was an accident, but everyone knows that you can't trust him. ''I _t probably was payback for losing that team battle against me''_ Marth thought, shaking his head in shame. Marth had a low tolerance for 'Sore losers' such as Wario. He had made it a rule to just suck it up and shake the other person on the hand.

As Marth quickly walked through the busy mansion hallways, he didn't notice a when a certain brown haired princess stopped to pick up a book she dropped on the floor. The princess stood up, and when doing so hit her head on the top of Marth's chin.

 _"Okay..I get that Wario has a grudge on me, but that seriously hurt."_ Marth complained to himself.

Upon standing up, he quickly realized that this person was indeed NOT Wario. Marth almost was relieved, once you became a target on Wario's list; you would endure almost 3 weeks full of non-stop pranks. That's why no one dared to get on Wario's bad side, except for the kids. They knew that Peach would protect them if Wario ever tried something, and no one likes getting hit in the head with a frying pan first thing in the morning.

"P-Princess Zelda!" Marth exclaimed in a shocked voice, a blush quickly spread across his cheeks.

"Oh, I'm sorry Marth." The wise princess stood up quickly before holding her head in pain.

"Princess Zelda?" Marth questioned, helping the princess up. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Marth, thank you very much." Zelda reassured. " I just stood up too quickly, that's all"

"But Princess Zelda,you might be hurt! Ike's always talking about how hard headed I am. I would never forgive myself if you were to get hurt" Marth blurted out, giving himself a mental facepalm. _"Hardheaded...seriously Marth?"_

The princess giggled. "Ah..Marth, your so funny! You don't have to call me Princess you know, i'd prefer it if you would call me just Zelda." She smiled, her warm brown eye's sparkled. "Iv'e been hanging around with Link so much lately, his clumsiness is rubbing off on me."

The prince of Altea nodded. "Alright, Zelda. This will take some getting used to "

The princess smiled back. "Yeah.."

The awkward silence hung around the two were lost in deep thought. Marth's blush began to deepen as he thought of the possibilities. Working up the courage to ask her out to a date, the prince boldly took a step forward.

"Zelda listen I-"

"YOUR CROWN!" Zelda suddenly yelled as she looked at the broken head attire.

The confused prince looked around, thinking she was talking about someone else's crown. He then realized that she was referring to his crown, which was indeed broken on the cold floor of the hallway.

"Oh, that!? It's fine Zelda" Marth quickly responded, wanting to get back to what he was about to ask.

"It must have broken from my book!" The princess pointed out. "I was just on my way to return this to the library."

Marth quickly nodded, his courage was fading by the second. "Yes that's fine but-"

"I didn't know that the Mansion had a library"

Marth sighed, giving in to the fact that today obviously wasn't going to be the day he asked Zelda out. He looked down to see Toon Link looking up at Zelda smiling. The two had created a motherly, childly bond. Link acted as Toon Link's older brother and felt the need to constantly watch after him. So wherever Toon Link was, you were sure to find-

"Ah Toony!" Link exclaimed. "There you are! Don't run off like that!"

...Link

Zelda smiled at the two Link's as Link began to scold Toon Link for leaving him behind and losing him and while Toon Link replied with the generic "I'm old enough to watch out for myself, I'm not a kid" response.

Link smiled down at Toon Link. "Sure you aren't.."

Toon Link pouted. "I'm really not a kid!"

"Marth, I promise that I will repair your crown. I am sorry for that" The wise princess quickly responded. "I will talk to you later?"

Marth smiled. "Yeah..I'll talk to you later Zelda..."

As the princess walked away, Marth noticed another crown on the floor. One that wasn't his, he quickly picked it up and took the book as well. The prince help the items close to him making sure not to drop them as he ran towards the group of Hylians.

"Wait! Zelda!" Marth yelled, hoping to get Zelda's attention.

The princess turned around. "What is it Marth?"

"Y-you umm..y-you forgot your.." Marth mentally facepalmed himself again for becoming flustered.

Taking a deep breath, Marth carefully placed Zelda's tiara on her head. He brushed a few stray hairs out of her face and blushed at her beauty. Her deep brown eyes seemed so warm, he could get lost in them for days.

"Thank you, Marth" Zelda responded.

"Y-your welcome Zelda" Marth stuttered.

Then and that day, it was decided. Marth Lowell was in love.


	2. And we find a loophole

Marth looked at his friends as they all froze in surprise, he had decided to tell Ike about his feelings for Zelda in hopes that he would help Marth sort out his feelings. What he didn't know was that Ike would shout it out and make Marth have to explain it to his roommates.

"WAIT WHAT!?" Robin shouted, after recovering from his initial shock.

"Wait Marth so you like ZELDA?" Roy questioned in amusement.

"I knew I shouldn't of told you guys.." The blue haired prince hid his face in his pillow in embarrassment. "And again...it's in question, I'm not sure if I really like her or not."

Ike wiped his eye where a tear had ran down out of laughter. "I can't believe this...you must be out of your mind, Martha"

"Oh shut up.." Marth rolled his eyes, turning away from his mocking friends. "Its not even that funny."

"In all seriousness" Robin looked between the three. "You do know that Link will kill you if he finds out that you like Zelda."

Roy nodded. "Those two are always I mean ALWAYS together!"

"Well gee guys.." Marth frowned. "Thanks for boosting my self confidence."

"Marth don't be like that, we are, in a way looking out for you." Robin confirmed. "Don't worry Lucy and I will keep an extra eye out for you"

Ike wiggled his eyebrows. "You and Lucina, huh?"

Robin reddened also looking away from the group. "Lucina and I are just friends."

"Look, how about we make a deal" Roy smiled, a mischievous look making its way to his eyes. "We all help Marth out with Zelds, then we help Robin out with Lucina."

"No thank you Roy...I don't need any help.." Robin still hide his face away, not wanting to look them in the eyes.

"It's not as simple as that Roy, as much as I wish it were..." Marth propped his arms up so that he could look at his friends directly. "As Robin pointed out...Link and Zelda are always together.. I'm obviously not ever going to get a chance to talk to her or advance past a simple friend zone.."

"Marth.."

Looking up, the prince's eyes caught with his friends eyes. Their eyes, showed determination, kindness...and trust. When Marth had met Roy, Ike and Robin. He knew, deep inside that they were meant to, one could even say destined, to be friends.

"Marth, you've got this" Roy softly whispered. "We will support you all the way to the end."

"And if Link tries anything" Robin started, looking over at Ike and Roy who smiled back. Ike flexed his muscles and Roy punched his hand into his fist. "Roy and I have your backs.."

Ike frowned and quickly threw a pillow at Roy's face. Robin quickly ducked as Marth watched the scene, laughing at his friends antics. Ike pulled Marth over to the side and handed him pillows, Ike turned over the table in their shared room and made a fort. Robin and a giggling Roy were left with no protection as Ike and Marth mauled them down.

Catching the pillows as fast as he could, Robin tried throwing them back but the two manned team of Marth and Ike was way too fast for him to try and get back at Ike.

"Okay okay I FORFEIT!" Robin shouted, seeing that there was no way a laughing Roy would be able to help him.

"What was that?" Marth questioned, still throwing pillows.

"Yeah ROBIN WHAT WAS THAT?" Ike laughed, clearly he had heard what the white haired swordsman said, he was just messing with him.

"I know that you heard me you li- AH!" Robin screeched as Ike hurled a pillow directly at his face. Robin quickly grabbed Roy and used him as a shield.

"Ouch!" Roy still laughed even as he got smashed by the pillow.

Ike yawned before stretching out. "That's enough for today we should get some sleep"

Robin nodded. "Marth and I have several matches tomorrow against Mario and-" Robin wiggled his eyebrows. "Zelda"

"Ooooh!" Ike and Roy said in unison.

Marth shook his head. "You guys are so immature"

"And yet you have no idea what you'd do without us" Roy grinned before lightly punching Marth in the upper shoulder.

As the group of Fire Emblem warriors slowly drifted off to sleep, one blue haired prince was still sitting awake. The time flew and Marth still found that he couldn't sleep. Marth put his arm underneath his head and stared at the growing crack in the ceiling. So many thoughts were running through his mind, he couldn't even grasp them.

Sitting up, Marth slowly climbed down his bunk bed, making sure to be mindful of Ike's leg that was poking out under the ladder. _How could he even sleep like that? S_ haking his head and not even wanting to question the logic of Ike's sleeping positions, especially because his grip was weakening, Marth lightly stood down on his feet.

Looking at the other bunk beds, Marth recalled the times when it was only him and Ike. Not saying that Marth didn't enjoy the company of Roy and Robin, just the fact that since there were a lot more fighters, there wasn't a lot of space. Unforchunetly, the four friends got a corner room. It was cramped just to say the least.

Grabbing his bent broken crown and a jacket, Marth slowly opened the old door to their shared room. Marth winced as he saw Roy start to sit up, but then let out a breath of relief when he saw Roy turn to his side and pull his blankets up to his chin. Marth quickly closed the door and walked through the hallway that seemed to be way longer than it had earlier. It was a common rule that fighters were not permitted to be outside of their rooms after midnight.

Marth had a very special reason to break that rule tonight.

It was hard to think, especially with Ike's snoring. Marth desperately needed some alone time away from people. From life. From thoughts. He needed to just forget about everything and let it go. Not question everything. Taking small quiet steps, Marth quickly dashed down the steps to the front of the Mansion. Who knew what Master and Crazy Hand would do if he was caught? The idea popped in his mind several times as he opened the large door at the front of the huge mansion.

The Fire Emblem hero walked around to the back. Now thinking it through, he could have left out through one of the back doors of the mansion. It was too late to change that now. Sighing out of relief of making it outside of the Mansion, Marth walked farther, and he could swear that he heard a small shriek of fear. Looking around quickly in fear of someone seeing him, he realized that the shriek had come from above him.

Marth looked up at the roof of the Mansion, where a young boy wearing a hat with a sheepish guilty looking smile, grinned down at Marth. Upon realizing that this was indeed Ness, Marths fear deepened.

"Ness!" Marth tried to yell quietly. "What in the world are you doing on the roof!?"

"I LIKE TO WATCH THE STARS" Ness yelled back, cupping his hands so that his voice would project down to Marth. He didn't realize how loud his voice was and quickly covered his mouth as the yell echoed.

The adult smashers weren't even aloud to go out after dark, who would know what would happen to Ness if he were to get caught? Marth motioned for Ness to come down and didn't expect for Ness to literally jump off the roof and next to him. Letting out a shriek of fear and covering his eyes expecting to see the young boy as a huge splat on the cold, wet grass. Instead, looking up at him with a big grin, Ness was smiling and not covered in a single bruise or cut.

"What?" Ness still smiled looking up at Marth's face seeing his fear. "You thought that I was going to jump to my death?" Ness made a sound of disbelief. "Trust me Marth, I've done that countless time"

Regaining the color in his face, Marth frowned. "And hopefully this was the last"

Ness suddenly looked scared. "Marth, you won't tell on me will you?"

Marth looked amused. "And why would I do that? I'm not supposed to be out here either."

"Good point" Ness sat down on the grass and brought his legs to his chest blowing on his hands to keep warm. "So why are you out here anyway Marth? At first I thought you were Toon Link but then I saw-"

"So Toon Link comes out here too?" Marth playfully said.

"Oh!" Ness covered his mouth before looking down. "I wasn't supposed to say anything, please don't tell him I told you that he comes out with me sometimes"

Marth took a seat next to Ness, ignoring the fact that the grass was wet with dew. "I won't." Marth put his hand to his chest. "I promise I won't"

The two sat next to each other, glancing at the sky in pure amazement. Marth used to do this all the time. Stargazing. Sometimes, he and Cadea would look at the clouds, just to get away from the constant fighting and war. The fighting was bad..but it was the thing that brought them together. Ness, who had a calm expression, looked up at Marth again.

"You never told me why you came out here in the first place" Ness yawned, bringing his hand to cover his mouth.

Marth chuckled. "Well..I don't know..I just had a lot to think about" The prince brushed some of his own hair out of his face. "What about you Ness?"

Ness looked at Marth in confusion, he had obviously been not listening. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..why do you come outside to look at the stars?" Marth patiently asked again.

Ness nodded, understanding. "Sometimes I come out here because of Paula. But for tonight, I just came out because I have a killer headache."

Marth put a supportive hand on Ness's shoulder, understanding the exact pain Ness was feeling. Master Hand had given all the fighters a sort of power down. One of Ness's Pk attacks could kill you, here at the mansion, it would only give you an aching feeling. It was harder on the physic fighters mainly because their attacks were used with their minds, meanwhile fighters such as Samus or Marth only felt a feeling of weakness.

"Marth..you seem tense.." Ness felt how Marth's hand was kind of gripping his shoulder tightly.

Marth said nothing, only taking his hand off of Ness's upper back and looking down at his hands. Ness looked at Marth, concern filling his mind. Ness knew how hard Marth would push himself. He had been one of the original 12, Marth only spoke Japanese back then. Ness was the only one who could partially understand him. Ness was the only one that could understand the Pokemon or Mr. Game and Watch. Everyone was miserable, especially the young Ness. That was before the language barrier was broken, now the older smashers like Marth and Link had to take a language course. Marth got the ancient Hylian language, learning English was hard. Even though Master Hand made it so that they all spoke it, Marth found himself slip into Japanese now and then, especially in battle.

"I apologize Ness" Marth explained, he seemed distracted by something.

Ness put his hand onto Marth's forehead. The Altean prince seemed to have awareness of what the young physic was doing. Marth suddenly felt a buzzing feeling in his mind and heard Ness audibly gasp. Marth felt bad, he knew what Ness was doing. Ness was reading his mind.. and the thing on Marth's mind was something that he didn't share to many people. There were only 5 people now including Ness, who knew of Cadea. Marth's former love.

"Marth?" Ness's violet eyes widened with confusion, tears glistened in his eyes. "Marth..who was that girl?"

Marth gulped, looking away from Ness's questioning glance. Marth knew he shouldn't have let Ness see his thoughts. "Her name was Cadea. Princess Cadea in fact. She was my fiance"

 _"Prince Marth of Altea" The King Mostyn of (Insert land Cadea's from) looked down at Marth with a questioning look. Marth had come to ask him for his blessings and approval to marry Cadea._

 _Marth looked up at King Mostyn, determination shining in his cobalt eyes. "King Mostyn of (Insert land from) it's a pleasure to see you again. Iv'e actually come here for an reason your highness-"_

 _"Is my daughter still seeing you?" Mostyn rudely interrupted._

 _"Actually, yes she is still seeing me" Marth frowned up at Mostyn._

 _"Ah" The king shook his head. "What a pity. I was hoping she was over you already. You know that you stole my daughter from me I haven't seen her in 2 years"_

 _"And excuse me but who's fault is that?" Marth argued back. "It was your decision to let her come with me in the first place. AND it was yours to take me in after the war that killed my father. I am sorry that your lack of intelligence makes you fathom that it is I who-"_

 _The king snapped his fingers, interrupting Marth from his tiny rant. Seeing that he got Marth's attention, he pointed to the door and simply spoke one small word. "Out"_

 _Marth looked panicked. "But I-"_

 _"Prince Marth, leave before I send soldiers to come and MAKE you leave"_

 _Marth glared at the king. "No wonder Cadea doesn't come to see you. She was right, you ARE a tyrant!"_

 _The king stood up, quickly walking over to Marth and holding Marth's neck up with his hand. "You Marth Lowell, you are a weak pathetic excuse of a prince. You couldn't save your father, mother or sister. And you think that i'm the crazy one for not wanting you to be with my daughter. You could never protect her. You would bring her down and she would die"_

 _The king continued, ignoring the fact that Marth was lacking air. "Never forget that you MARTH are not worthy of being a king or prince. You will die alone and wither away being completely forgotten."_

 _King Mostyn let go of Marth's neck, leaving the prince on his hands and knees gasping for air. "Now leave"_

 _Marth looked up at King Mostyn. "I came to ask you if I could marry your daughter. I don't care what you think of me. I came here for her"_

 _The king turned away from Marth. "Go ahead. I'm not coming"_

 _And with the answer Marth needed, the kings words still ringing in his ears. Marth left the palace to ask Caeda to be his wife._

Marth stood up, and dusted the grass off of his pants, still looking down at Ness. "I'm going to bed, you should join me" Marth mentally laughed at himself for the play on words, he could just hear his friends making fun of it in the back of his mind.

Ness shook his head. "No i'm fine. I think i'll stay out here for a little longer"

Marth smiled, taking off his jacket and putting it around the young boy's shoulders. "Then you'll need this. Please try to come in at an reasonable time Ness"

Ness smiled up at Marth, wrapping Marth's jacket around himself. "Thanks Marth" He turned to say something else, but saw that the prince was already out of distance.

Walking back to the mansion, Marth couldn't help but feel a little quilty for just leaving the young boy behind but still continued his journey back in, glancing at his surroundings and taking light steps to make sure that he wouldn't wake anyone up. Marth hated it.

Now back in his room, the thoughts came back. Maybe he should have talked to Ness about it and it would have made him feel better, shaking his head Marth closed his eyes tried to fall asleep again.

"Marth?" Roy's voice lightly called, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His hair was up in all sorts of directions. "Are you up?"

Marth tried to seem as if he were still sleeping, even though he hadn't been to sleep at all that night. He heard Roy shift in his bed and sit up, trying to glance through the dark to see if Marth was actually sleeping since he hadn't responded to him. Roy asked his question again and with no response, he sat back with a sigh and tried to go to sleep again.

Marth's fake sleeping suddenly turned real as he listened to the soft breathing of his friends*.

* * *

Marth's slumber was woken up because of two main things. Ike's loud laughing and the fact that stupid Robin had to move the blinds back. Marth sat up, wincing as the sun made it's way to his tired eyes. " _Just how late did I stay up last night?"_ Marth questioned as he climbed down the ladder attached to his bunk bed.

Ike smiled when he saw Marth and made his way over to him. "Ah, look who's up guy's!"

Robin barely looked up from his book. "Good morning Marth. You better hurry, we were waiting for you to wake up before we went down"

Marth nodded and quickly walked to the bathroom, looking in the mirror, Marth saw his reflection and shook his head at it in disappointment. He had dark eyebags that gave of a look that would put Dark Pit to shame. Ignoring the fact Marth took a quick shower and washed his face, not wanting to waste any time to have a chance to talk to Zelda. After getting dressed and fixing his hair, putting his slightly bent crown on his head, Marth joined his friends and walked out.

"So.."

Marth turned to Ike who had a mischievous look in his eyes. Marth sighed, accepting his fate to the fact that he now had to play a new version of 10,000 questions. Whenever any of the male smashers had crushes or hung out with a girl, they were shipped and teased about it constantly.

"Did you dream about Zelda?" Ike asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Marth sighed. "I did not...and would you stop doing that?"

"What?" Ike questioned.

"THAT THING!" Marth raised his hands up in aggravation. "With your eyebrows!"

Robin nodded, silently glad that it wasn't himself who was being teased. "Iv'e always wondered how you do that."

Ike was about to respond before he was interrupted by a familiar sounding yell.

"MAAAAARTH!"

Marth turned around in confusion. "Link?" He quietly questioned before before being rammed by Link and getting the wind knocked out of him. Link stood up quickly, a frantic expression on his face. He adjusted his hat and wiped the dust off his tunic. He saw that the prince was on the floor and helped him up.

"Sorry about that Marth!" Link smiled.

"It's fine. Thanks for helping me up" Marth responded.

"No problem"

Link felt the eyes of Roy, Ike and Robin on him and felt uncomfortable. Ike had his arms crossed, Robin had actually moved his book down to look at Link and Roy. Well Roy looked a little irritated. Smiling nervously and being a little confused as to why they were looking at him with such hate, Link walked over to Marth.

"Marth.." Link whispered pulling him to the side. "Why are they looking at me like that? Did something happen?"

Marth shrugged. "C'mon guys. Stop being so rude" He turned to Link. "So what was it you tackled me in the middle of the hallway for?"

"Uh..i'll tell you later..at breakfast. Will you please sit with me?" Link asked, a pleading look in his eyes.

Marth looked back at Robin and Ike. Roy took a step forward. "Well actually-"

"Sure." Marth simply said, interrupting Roy who had an unreadable expression of irritance*.

Marth hesitantly followed Link, glancing back at Ike and Robin. Seeing as the two had nothing to contribute, only shooting Link looks of weariness and obviously showing that they did not trust Link and that wherever this was going, it would be , who was walking by, looked at Roy, Robin and Ike who were still frozen in place glaring Link down until he was out of sight. Pit, thinking it was himself that they were glaring at, slowly backed away from them in confusion and fear, sporting a nervous smile.

Meanwhile, Link and Marth had gotten out of the surprisingly short breakfast line, it was quite rare actually for it to be that short. Link sat across from Marth with an unusually huge grin. It looked creepy on Link.

"So where's Toon Link?" Marth asked, to spark conversation. "You guy's are normally always together"

"I'm not ALWAYS with him" Link muttered childishly. Stirring his coffee with a spoon. "He's hanging out with Lucas and Ness.."

"Of course YOU would know that Link" A nearby Dark Pit snickered, saying exactly what Marth was thinking.

Link's grin shrunk a little. "So anyway" He pushed his coffee away. "Aren't you kind of interested in what I have to say?" Feeling that Dark Pit was looking at them and listening, Link quickly corrected himself. "I mean MARTH NOT ANYONE ELSE!"

Marth simply nodded, while Dark Pit and a few other fighters tried to look like he was innocent. Link then lowered his voice, twiddling his thumbs nervously. Marth looked at Link with pure curiosity.

"So?" Marth questioned.

"I...Marth.." Link looked down. "You promise me you won't tell anyone?"

Marth smiled. "I promise"

"Iv'e been thinking about it for a while." Link brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I think I like Zelda"

Marth on the inside cracked, He wanted to scream in rage or cuss. He even wanted to start crying. Marth's eye twitched, today certainly was supposed to not be a good day for him. Zelda was going to end up with Link, not him. Marth didn't stand a chance against Link. What was it about Link? His hair? His ears? Marth could ask someone to die his hair blonde and-

"Marth?" Link questioned, waving a hand in front of Marth's vacant, shocked face. "Uh..?"

Marth smiled, clenching his fist tightly. "I am so happy for you buddy!" His words were strained.

"Uh..thank you Marth!" Link innocently smiled. "But i'm not sure if she likes me back yet. I don't think she likes me to be honest."

" _Great!"_ Marth thought to himself. " _Now! If I tell Zelda that I like her, and treat her well. Then maybe she and I could get together"_

"Link" Dark Pit called. Marth and Link both looked over. "Maybe you could leave an anonymous note telling her that you like her and then see how things play out from there"

Marth still smiled, although it was incredibly tense. _"WHO ASKED YOU!"_ Marth mentally yelled.

"Y'know" Link said, thinking. "That's a great idea!" He stood up quickly. "I'll go write it now!"

And that's how Marth found himself sitting across the chair from Peach asking for romance advise.


	3. The Problem Of Being Smart

**AH- This seriously hasn't been updated since Thanksgiving. I feel so bad. And thanks for the great reviews, I really appreciate them!**

Marth immediately regretted his decision to un-wisely admit his infatuation with one of Zelda's friends. Or at least that's what he thought. Marth looked over wearily at Peach, who had adopted a very shocked face expression. After Marth had quickly run into the princess's shared room with Rosalina, he immediately blurted out the fact, not caring who was listening. Since he admitted it, Peach had been staring at him while spilling her tea on her rug.

"Uh..excuse me princess Peach?" Marth unsurridly called. "Are you-"

Marth was interrupted by the princess's shrieks of joy. She grabbed Marth by his hands and jumped up and down before pulling him in for a tight hug. The blue haired prince being put in an uncomfortable position, halfully returned the hug, silently hoping that she would let go of him. Marth wasn't in the mood for this.

"I'm sorry Marth" Peach curtly apologized, backing away from him. "But hearing you say the words 'I love you' once more, to another girl is just making my heart fill with joy"

Toon Link, who was walking down the hallway overheard Peach's shrieking and made a sick face at the princess was saying. Toon Link knew he should have kept walking and ignore it, but at the mention of 'love' and 'another girl' made the young boy curious. Marth, who was standing outside of the doorway, sighed in annoyance.

"Princess. Could you please lower your voice-" Marth unsuccessfully tried to ask.

"I told her that someday her prince would come! And look!" The mushroom princess smiled at Marth. "Here you come, professing your love"

"I actually haven't admitted anything because Lin-"

"But after Cadea, I never thought that you would never want love again" Peach looked over at the now quiet Marth. Realizing what she had done, she gasped. "Oh dear. Marth i'm sorry"

Shaking his head, Marth looked back at Peach and pretended to smile. "There's no reason to apologize princess. The ordeal happened years ago. It's time for me to move on"

"If you say so Marth.." Peach whispered.

Meanwhile, the eavesdropping Toon Link was frowning. He knew that the other voice was Marth, he was positive of that. And the first voice he heard was undeniably Peach's. But who was this girl that Marth liked? And who was Cadea, what exactly happened to her? Toon Link's eyes widened as he heard a footsteps approaching his direction. Toon Link ducked out of the way and on the side. The big door loudly shut, causing Toon Link to grab his sensitive ears in pain.

"Sorry for that princess" Marth commented. "I just thought it should be more private"

"Well..care for some tea?"

* * *

Shulk and Robin walked down the hallway, on their way to the training arena. The two had become friends a few weeks ago after a team match between Little Mac and Zero Suit Samus. With their combined far and close range attacks, anyone the two went against was in for trouble. The only team's that had managed to beat him were Link and Toon Link and Dark Pit and Pit. Basically almost anyone who had a counterpart. The two newcomers were doing pretty good, at least that's what they thought. Robin still envied his twin sister Robyn who seemed to be just a little better in every way. Shulk was only having a hard time with his recoveries, and the light angel Pit seemed to hate the homs.

"Really?" Shulk asked, tilting his head in amusement. "Your swordsmen friends think that you like Lucina?"

"Yeah Shulk.." The tactician paused before looking at his friend in thankfulness. "Thanks for listening Shulk"

"Thanks for talking to me" Shulk smiled. "It's been pretty lonely without you lately. We really should hang out more often." He lightly touched his monado that was on his back, a bad habit he had picked up. He always had a fear that one day it would go missing and he wouldn't be able to protect his friends. In the beginning, Master Hand had prohibited him from carrying his sword around. But after seeing how tense and nervous he was, Dunban (His mentor) and Ricki (His friend he made along on his adventure) had convinced the large hand to allow Shulk to carry it around with him. "It may be fun hanging out with Dunban and Riki, but it's always nice to talk to new friends"

That was another thing. Shulk's friends Dunban and Riki were given special treatment. From being one of the people that hadn't had any representatives from his supposed 'game world' he was given the privilege to have his assist trophy friends roam free around the mansion till they were called into battle for a finale smash that Shulk had rarely gotten.

"We should" Robin said aloud, mostly to himself. "But then there's the problem Shulk. Marth is in pickle"

"Is that so?" Shulk responded. "What's wrong with him."

"Marth likes the same girl that Link does" Robin answered. In the back of his mind he slightly wondered if his new friend would be trusted or not.

"Link. The short one or the tall one?" Shulk asked, still confused as to what the difference was between them. One was incredibly handsome while the other was insanely cute. He still had yet to learn all the names of the fighters in the mansion, the fact that Shulk was shy and introverted didn't help.

"The older one Shulk" Robin responded.

As the two walked through the hallway, the tactician frowned when he saw the younger Link pressing his ear up to Peach's room. Robin looked at Shulk, Shulk returned the same glance of weariness. That was another thing. The two were able to sometimes communicate by only a glance. Shulk approached Toon Link.

"Hey there Link" Shulk softly spoke. "Whatcha doing there?"

Toon Link's eyes widened, well almost considerably more than they were before. "I-I..uh..your names S-shulk, right?"

Seeing this as an attempt to divert the conversation, Robin interrupted the kind homs boy knowing he wouldn't apply the kind of pressure that they needed to get a solid answer out of him. "His name is Shulk. And if you need a refresher my name is Robin. Now what are you doing Link?"

Toon Link winced at the tone Robin was using on him. He wasn't used to hearing anyone speak to him so harshly. "A-actually my name isn't-"

"What are you doing Link." Robin spoke. It now wasn't even a question as it was a demand.

"Marth is going to break his heart.." Toon Link softly whispered under his breath. "I can't believe it.."

Shulk raised an eyebrow. "Marth is going to break who's heart exactly?"

Toon Link shook his head furiously and quickly dashed away. Robin started to chase after the boy but stopped when Shulk grabbed his arm roughly. The tactician frowned at Shulk who was frowning back at him.

"What was that!?" Shulk angrily asked as Robin tried to pull away from his grip.

''What was what? The kid was obviously hiding something and I know it had to deal with something involving Marth"

"And so you yell at him and almost make him cry because he knew something?" Shulk shook his head. "Robin, Toon Link is a child. And whatever news he received it's obviously not good news. Did you see his eyes?"

"Yeah." Robin scoffed. "With eyes like those you could probably see them from outer space"

"Like we all don't have attributes about ourselves that aren't normal!" Shulk argued. "Robin. You literally have white hair"

"And you're basically an alien with a british accent! But do we comment about that?" Robin responded, gripping his hands in a fist.

"I know you want to help you friends but arguing with your other ones and maintaining a bad attitude will only make you lose all of them!" Shulk exclaimed. "Now I see why your sister is higher on the tier list then you. She's level headed and makes good decisions"

"Shulk you can't even talk. My sister and I are way better than you'll ever be. The only reason you win is because you have that stupid toothpick sword and your visions. No one can beat the future, it's not fair" Robin sadistically commented.

Shulk gasped. "I don't need my visions or my monando to beat you" The blond made an uncharacteristic scowl. "Take away your dumb attacks and you wouldn't last a minute in a fist fight"

"Oh..Would I not?" Robin asked, already getting ready to punch Shulk.

"You wouldn't and I know because you're too sl-"

Robins fist made contact with Shulks chest before he even had the chance to make the conscious decision to even start a fight. The blond haired homs crumpled to the floor, getting the wind knocked out of him. Shulk gasped for air and was almost surprised at the display of power that came from the tactician. Robin froze before looking at his friend who was laying on the floor now coughing his lungs out. He didn't know he was that powerful.

"Shulk?" Robin quietly asked, hearing the homs gasp for air. "Are you okay?"

"R-robin" Shulk weakly responded. "I-I can't hear you. C-could you come closer?"

The tactician dumbly walked over and peered at Shulk to see if he had really done major damage. Shulk quickly grabbed Robin's leg pulling him down and causing the tactician to hit his head on the floor. That did it. The two were now tackling each other and punching, kicking and doing whatever they could possibly do to cause the most pain to the other person. Toon Link and Link who were watching on from the end of the hallway looked at each other before trying to stop the fight.

"What in dins name is going on here?" Link yelled, causing the two to stop yelling.

"What are you doing here Toon Link?" Shulk hissed, trying to grab Robin's fingers out of his hair.

"I'm Toon Link!" The cartoon counterpart muttered. "That's Link. It's really not that hard to get to know"

Ignoring what Toon Link said, Link continued. "Well I'm here to talk to Marth. Hearing that your best friend might like the girl that you like..y'know I just wanted to see if the rumors were true.."

"Rumors?" Robin asked, glaring at Toon Link.

"Before you ask, I have nothing to do with this!" Toon Link claimed, putting his hands up in defence.

"You lying son of a-" Robin yelled before tackling Toon Link. Shulk tackled Robin to keep him from murdering the child, Robin tackled the child to murder him and Link now jumped in too to keep Shulk from killing Robin by taking his monando from him.

"What in the world is going on here?"

The four boy's looked up at the now opened door of the mushroom princess's shared room. Behind Princess Peach stood Marth, who was confused as well.

Toon Link growled. "Marth. You are in for a lot of trouble. Practically the whole mansion knows"

"Knows..what exactly?" Marth questioned, now a bit afraid.

"That you like Zelda" Shulk answered, glaring at Robin.

Link looked away from Marth. "Marth..are the rumors true?"

"Rumors or not. The whole mansion knows" Robin muttered.

"How did the rumor spread?" Marth asked.

"You might want to check your phone" Link whispered.

On Marth's phone, it was blown up. All over SmashTube, Yahboo, and Spoogle. In big headlines. 'Zelda scandal involving prince Marth. Are Zelda and Marth cheating?"

Marth's eyes widened as he dropped his phone. Robin and Shulk glanced at what exactly was casuing the madness. Underneath the headlines was a blurry, yet accurate showing of Robin and Shulk talking about Marth and Zelda. Underneath that was a small piture of Zelda and Marth holding hands. Whoever had done this had been stalking them.

All the evidence was there.

There was no way to get away from this.


	4. The Stoic Prince

_As Marth rode on his horse, he couldn't help but feel a little unsettled. Still, he rode his horse, excited to tell Cadea the great news about marriage. Marth had already prepared for it. Everything was already accounted for. He bought the ring. He picked up flowers. He already knew when and where he would tell his beloved princess and how he would ask for her hand in marriage. What he didn't know is that he never would have the chance to._

That was it.

Marth had lied to his best friend.

I mean, sure they weren't as close as they had been in the past. But Marth couldn't bring himself to tell Link the truth. The honest truth. So instead of causing drama, he lied straight through his teeth.

"No Link. I have absolutely no feelings for anyone at all"

Link raised an eyebrow as Robin, Shulk and Toon Link all looked at Marth in disbelief. They hadn't known Marth to lie, he mostly told the truth in every available situation. Other than the situations that would get him in deep trouble with the villains, like Bowser or Ganondorf. Seeing Marth's cold glance, Link backed off and frowned a bit.

"How are we going to stop the rumors from going around then?" Link questioned quietly. The way he was acting reminded Marth vaguely of a small child that was seen getting caught taking a cookie or a piece of candy. Part of Marth was wondering why Link seemed to act guilty when it was himself who should feel bad.

"This has happened before" Marth commented, still looking at Link with the same expression. "With me and Samus.." Marth paused. "And Ike.."

"So what do they play you for?" Link questioned, already getting ready to go off on a spree, ready to threaten each person who reported this. "I know you're not a player or a cheater, and I know that they know that you aren't one either"

"I guess we just have to wait for it to go, for it to die out again." Marth shrugged. "Guess I can't talk or be seen with her if we don't want their suspicions to be confirmed"

"I'm wondering how they exactly got those photos in the first place" Peach added, just wanting to be apart of the conversation. "I mean, Master Hand normally keeps this place on top lockdown"

"Maybe the security levels are at an all time low because of an update?" Robin questioned, afraid to look at Marth in the eye's. "You did say that several times a year during the brawl tournament when it was close to the end"

"This has nothing to do with that" Marth coldly responded, probably still irked about the video between him and Shulk. An awkward silence then filled the hall. None were used to seeing Marth so..angry.

"Well..I should probably go clear this up with everyone than. Tell them not to believe the news" Link finally quietly announced, walking away from the group. Toon Link looked up at Marth, guilt and fear was felt by everyone.

"Uh..I think I should-"

"Don't even think about leaving" Marth sternly announced, a forced grin was on his face. "Why don't we go back to my room guys?" He out his hands on Shulk and Robin's arms, still grinning. "Princess. Have a wonderful day" Marth addressed to the mushroom princess. "We will have to see if that plan works"

If Toon Link thought that Robin was scary, Marth was a whole nother level. Toon Link gulped fearfully as he watched his onl potential savior, Princess Peach, turn around and enter her room again.

"Why don't you come as well Toon Link?" Marth asked, pretending to not be bothered. "Seeing as is you are apart of this as well"

"I know you would appreciate my appearance at this-" Toon Link noticed Marth's glare. "Actually sure. i'll come ok?"

"I don't think you really had much of a choice" Shulk mumbled under his breath.

* * *

Roy and Ike looked down at their phones in surprise. Ike immediately slapped the phone out of Roy's hands and let out a cry of anger. Ike slammed his phone down on the floor and stepped on it with his heel. Sheik raised her eyebrow, watching Ike throw what looked like a temper tantrum.

"What's gotten into you Ike?" Sheik questioned with a smirk. "Stub your toe on the wall again?"

"I'm in no mood for jokes. We've just made a terrible mistake" Ike sighed.

"What exactly happened for you to smash your phone on the floor?" Sheik asked again, eyeing the broken phone on the floor. "There's a lot of things I would do before breaking it."

"Yeah. But my phone is the reason i'm mad'' Ike explained. "Roy and I have messed up...I'm surprised you haven't seen it yet"

"Seen what?" Sheik questioned, all playfulness was now gone from her voice.

"The thing about M-"

"Ike you dolt!" Roy whispered angrily in Ike's ear, covering his mouth with his hand. "If she doesn't find out then that's one person less to have to worry about finding out!"

"Roy. You uploaded the picture to Smashmedia. I'm pretty sure everyone will eventually find out sooner or later" Ike groaned, taking Roy's hand off his mouth.

"What video?" Sheik asked, trying to figure out what the two boys were talking about.

"That's none of you business at the moment" Roy quickly responded before grabbing and pulling Ike's arm along with him while he ran.

"Uh..so I guess i'll see you later Sheik?" Ike called, already down the hall from Roy's pushing.

"NO he will not see you later!" Roy yelled back before turning to Ike. "Ike, when will you understand that she probably isn't one who should be trusted with a secret like this."

"I think you're the one that couldn't be trusted Roy" Ike cooly replied.

"It was an accident!" Roy protested.

"Whatever it was we should probably go clear it up with Marth" Ike muttered, he now was dragging Roy's arm and leading him to their room.

"But he's going to kill me if he finds out!" Roy whined, pulling away from Ike's grasp like a child.

"Exactly. But i'm apart of this too. He'll kill both of us" Ike responded, opening the door to their room.

In their shared room stood Robin, Shulk and Toon Link for some reason. All of them were looking up at Marth with pity in their eyes as the Hero-King seemed to be giving them a lecture. As the door opened, all of them except for Marth acknowledge their presence. Shulk and Toon Link looked at them with wide eyes, almost begging them to leave while they still could. Still, Ike led Roy further into the room and shut the door behind them.

There was no turning back now.

"Roy. Ike. How nice of you to join us" Marth smiled, turning to the two males.

"Uh..nice to see you too Marth" Roy muttered, looking up at the blue haired prince.

"We came here to tell you something" Ike announced. "Something I think you should hear.."

"What is it Ike?" Marth asked, looking at the tallest sword fighter in the room.

"We accidentally might of posted a picture of you.." Roy started, looking over at Marth to see his reaction. "And Zelda..together and the press got a hold of it.." The red haired boy trailed off watching as Marth walked toward him still smiling.

Shulk, Robin and Toon Link watched in blind fear. They weren't sure what was happening here. Marth had led them to his room but proceeded to do nothing but stand there..and look at them with disappointment in his eyes. Ike got tense, he wasn't sure what his friend was planning to do. Marth to Ike was very unpredictable even though the mercenary knew the prince very well, he still did things that surprised him.

"That's great friend" Marth smiled and put his arm on Roy's shoulder. "Thank you all for trying to help me in this situation. You guy's can leave, i'll handle this myself"

"That's...it?" Shulk questioned from the side.

"What do you mean Shulk?" Marth questioned, feigning innocence. Deep down the prince knew that they were expecting a rage from him, but he was a prince before he was a fighter. And prince's had to stay calm.

"I mean." Shulk exalled a breath of air, now knowing how to explain. "I'm so used to everyone on Bionis getting so..upset all the time. You should see Dunban when he's angry!" Shulk raised his hands in confusion. "For you it makes no sense it-"

Shulk stopped mid sentence, looking intently at something before frowning. The engineer quickly walked closer to the prince and grabbed something off Marth's cape. "Is that a cardioid transmitter?" The homs teen questioned to himself.

"A cardi what now?" Roy asked, looking at Shulk.

"I'm sorry" Shulk shook his head. "I think it's known as a Microphone here"

"A microphone?" Ike repeated.

Robin gasped. "That means that-"

"Someone's been listening to all of your conversations Marth" Shulk finished, nodding over to the prince.

Marth stayed silent as his face quickly paled. "S-someone has been.." The prince stumbled back, gripping his hand on the nearby counter.

"Wait..wait.." Roy shook his head. "I'm confused.."

"Of course you would be Roy" Ike rolled his eyes.

"And what are you looking at!?" Roy yelled, looking down at Toon Link, who had remained unusually silent this whole time.

"Now that I think about it..you have been pretty quiet Toon Link" Shulk spoke.

"Is that a bad thing?" Toon Link questioned, firmly looking up at the elders in the room. "I mean it's not just everyday you get in trouble for looking out for someone"

"I understand that you were trying to look out for Link, but we are trying to look out for Marth" Ike replied.

"And eavesdropping is a bad thing. Especially on people in their rooms" Robin finished.

"Look. I'm sorry" Toon Link muttered, looking down at the floor. "But I can't take sides here. Look Marth, you're one of the coolest adult fighters and I respect you and all that stuff. But when it comes to Link." The cartoon counterpart looked up at the 'adults'. "I just can't have that. Okay? He's like my brother. And brothers look out for each other"

"So are you saying that you're the one who put that microchip thing on Marth's clothes?" Roy asked, still confused as to who did what.

"No." Toon Link raised an eyebrow at them. "Are you serious? I don't even know where to find stuff like that"

"But do you know who did it?"

The men in the room all looked over at Shulk.

"No" Toon Link quietly confirmed.

"You sure about th-"

"Yes" Toon Link interrupted. "I don't know who tracked Marth"

Ike turned to look at Marth but paused when he noticed that Marth was gone.

"Uh guy's..I think we should kind of acknowledge the fact that-"

"Holy bionis!" Shulk exclaimed. "Marth's gone"

* * *

 _Marth frowned. Something wasn't right. The dreaded feeling washed over him again as his horse neighed in protest and refused to go any further past the castle's shrubs. Marth got off his horse and looked forward._

 _Was that-_

 _On the grass laid two soldiers. Marth quickly ran towards them and felt his finger to their necks._

 _No pulse._

 _Gulping back the guilt, Marth ran into the castle. If this had happened to the soldiers, who knew how many were killed this time? Cadea and his sister were upstairs when he left. Were they harmed? Did they leave?_

 _Marth quickly ran up the stairs of the castle and to the area he last had seen his betrothed._

 _"CADEA" He shouted, his voice echoing through the castle._

 _"M-marth..?"_

 _Marth's eyes widened as he turned around quickly. On the floor layed Cadea, who was sitting up holding a wound in her stomach. Marth fell to the ground as he tripped on his own feet trying to get to his love as soon as possible._

 _"Marth" Caeda breathlessly said, a smile coming to her face._

 _"Caeda" Marth responded. "It's going to be ok. Everything will be fine"_

 _"Marth..I-i'm sorry" Caeda whispered._

 _"No..save your strength" Marth fierously responded. "Your going to be ok"_

 _"Marth..if I die-"_

 _"Don't speak like that Cadea!" Marth choked, tears threatening to fall from his eyes._

 _Cadea smiled sadly. "Marth. Before I die I would like to feel you one last time."_

 _Marth sat next to Cadea, holding her close and kissing her on the cheek. "Cadea. I love you"_

 _"I love you too, my hero" Cadea responded._

 _Feeling Cadea's grip weaken from his hand, Marth pulled out the ring from his pocket. Desperately trying to do anything that would keep her attention and keep her from 'falling asleep'. To keep her from leaving him._

 _"That's why I wanted to make it official Cadea" Marth shakily held the ring out for her to see. "C-cadea, will you marry me?"_

 _Tears fell from Cadea's eyes. She gently nudged his hand back to his chest shaking her head. "Marth. If I had more time then of course, I would love to marry you."_

 _Marth looked back, unable to keep from crying._

 _"But it's clear that whoever you are supposed to end up isn't me" Cadea continued._

 _"C-cadea.."_

 _"Give that ring to your wife" Cadea smiled softly. "I know one day you will find love again"_

 _"Cadea..please don't leave me" Marth gasped. "I don't have anyone else!"_

 _"Marth, one day we will meet again" Cadea softly said, her eye's growing tired. "I promise it"_

 _"P-promise?"_

 _"Yes Marth..I promise"_

 _Cadea slightly sat up and kissed Marth one last time before gasping and going limp in Marths' arms._

 _"Cadea?" Marth questioned, he gently shook her. "Cadea!?" The shaking got a bit more violent. "CADEA! NO"_

 _Marth freely sobbed into his hands. Ever since that day he had blamed himself._

* * *

"Marth?" Zelda opened the door to the library. "You've been standing there for the past three minutes. Are you ok?"

"Oh- Zelda.." Marth paused, looking at Zelda. He honestly wasn't sure how he walked over to Zelda in the first place. "Yeah. I'm fine"

"Your eye's say something other than your mouth" Zelda noticed. "Marth I know you aren't fine. What's wrong?"

"Zelda.." Marth paused. Looking around. "I have something to tell you"

"What exactly is that?" Zelda questioned.

"I think we should go inside" Marth whispered.

"Is it important or can it wa-"

"It can't wait"

It was now or never. Marth had to do this and finish this once and for all.


End file.
